Indiana law grants certain governmental bodies and private companies the power to take your land for a public use if you are paid “just compensation” for the land that is condemned. A couple of examples of entities that have the power of condemnation in Indiana are public utility companies and the State of Indiana. The State may seek to acquire part of your real estate for purposes of improving a public road that lies adjacent to your property. A public utility may want to condemn an interest in your real estate in order to place an underground natural gas pipeline on your land. This article will give you a brief overview of some steps that I recommend if you are approached by a condemning authority to acquire some of your property. Read the rest of this entry »
Condemnation – What To Do If Someone Seeks To Condemn Your Land
April 17th, 2012Introducing “E-RACE” – The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Initiative to Eradicate Racism and Colorism
April 12th, 2012The EEOC’s E-RACE Initiative is a program dedicated to “Eradicating Racism and Colorism from Employment.” More specifically, the EEOC’s goal for the E-RACE initiative is to address what it describes as “21st Century manifestations of discrimination.” And the EEOC identifies these 21st Century Manifestations as including arrest and conviction records, as well as other pre-employment hiring practices. But the emphasis is on arrest and conviction records, since the EEOC maintains that an employers’ reliance on those records results in a disparate impact on African-American and Hispanic minorities. The EEOC has shown renewed interest in background check policies and has used “systemic investigations” in the E-RACE initiative. Read the rest of this entry »
Indiana Law Changes Prompts New Caution to Lenders to Include Maturity Date in Indiana Mortgages
April 10th, 2012Last month, the Governor signed into law Senate Bill 298 which amended I.C. § 32-28-4-1 in relation to the effective duration of a Mortgage lien. Under prior law, if a mortgage was silent as to the date of maturity, a lender could bring a foreclosure action up to twenty (20) years after the date of recording. That statute of limitation has been amended to indicate that a foreclosure action must be brought within ten (10) years after the earlier of the date of execution, if indicated, or otherwise recording of the mortgage. Thus, if a mortgage secures long-term debt, it is critical that the last installment due date be included within the mortgage. Likewise, if lenders have relied upon prior mortgages that did not specify maturity when renewing a secured note, thinking that they had twenty (20) years from the initial mortgage to foreclose, they may wish now to amend their mortgages to specify the new date of maturity. Read the rest of this entry »
Indiana Legislature Eliminates Buy Local Preference for Public Works Projects
April 5th, 2012The Indiana Legislature has repealed the “local Indiana business” preference for public works projects in the State of Indiana (formerly found at Indiana Code 36-1-12-22). This preference for local Indiana businesses was just passed by the Indiana Legislature twelve months ago. Read the rest of this entry »
Think Twice Before You (Or Someone Else) Orders That Environmental Survey
April 3rd, 2012It has been over a decade since lenders began to routinely request what are known as Phase I environmental surveys in connection with the commercial financing of real estate. Manufacturers and commercial real estate developers have had extensive experience with these requests. Increasingly, other industries, such as agriculture, are seeing requests for environmental surveys in connection with financing and sale transactions. Many lenders will order the appropriate environmental survey as either a courtesy for their customer or because company policy requires that the survey be performed by an assessment firm that is on the lender’s approved list. While this works fairly well to meet the lender’s needs, the borrower should carefully consider how and by whom that report is going to be ordered as it may have a substantial impact on the value of the real estate and even on the liability of the borrower. If there are any concerns regarding the environmental condition of the real estate, the borrower may want to engage counsel to order the report. Here is why. Read the rest of this entry »
The Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines Are Being Revised
March 29th, 2012A draft is now being circulated with proposed modifications for the Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines. The new guidelines are anticipated to be made effective in the summer of 2012, assuming they are approved. If you have a prior court order which applies the Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines in whole or in part, the new guidelines will not automatically apply to your case. The parties can agree to apply the new guidelines to their circumstances, or in the event a modification is entered which references the guidelines after approval, the new guidelines will then be applied. Read the rest of this entry »
Indiana Stays the Course on Insurance Funded Environmental Cleanups
March 26th, 2012On March 22, 2012, the Supreme Court of Indiana made it clear that Indiana will continue to go its own direction as a pro-policyholder state resolving ambiguous insurance policies in favor of coverage for environmental cleanups. Many commercial general liability (CGL) insurance policies issued in the 1990s and 2000s with the ambiguous “pollutants” term will continue providing coverage for environmental cleanups in Indiana. This is true regardless of the ”business operations” endorsement to these CGL policies. In State Automobile Mutual Ins. Co. v. Flexdar, Inc., No. 49S02-1104-PL-199 (Ind. March 22, 2012) the endorsement language providing that the pollution exclusion applies “whether or not the irritant or contaminant has any function in your business, operations, premises, site or location” simply did not matter because the term “pollutants” in the exclusion was still ambiguous. The business operations endorsement ”does not come into play and is thus unavailing.” The court made it clear in the first two sentences of the opinion. ”In this case we examine whether the language of the pollution exclusion in a commercial general liability policy is ambiguous. We hold that it is. ” Read the rest of this entry »
Return of Rental Security Deposits
March 22nd, 2012During the real estate recession, many individuals have decided to lease their residence instead of buying a home. One common fight between a landlord and tenant occurs when a security deposit is returned late or applied to damages alleged by the landlord. If a landlord wants to apply some or all of a security deposit, Indiana law requires a residential landlord to provide the tenant with an itemized list of damages within 45 days of termination of occupancy. If the landlord fails to timely provide this notice, the landlord must remit the entire amount of the security deposit to the tenant. Read the rest of this entry »
Governor Signs Bill Repealing Indiana Inheritance Tax
March 21st, 2012On March 20, 2012, Governor Mitch Daniels signed the bill making long-awaited changes to the Indiana inheritance tax. The new law makes some interim changes to the Indiana inheritance tax and ultimately repeals the tax for the year 2022 and beyond. Read the rest of this entry »
Major Change to Indiana Child Support
March 20th, 2012As I am writing this, a bill is on the Governor’s desk amending Indiana Code 31-14-11-18 to terminate child support when a child turns 19 years of age. Under the current statute, child support terminates in Indiana at age 21. This revision will bring Indiana into line with the majority of states where support ends earlier than age 21. Read the rest of this entry »